Invasion+of+the+Body+Hatchers

== Monica Perez, Nick Ingrande, Roberto Bonilla, Tedd Brent || ||
 * || =Invasion of the Body Hatchers=

Overview
The body is under attack! Viruses, pathogens, and parasites, OH MY! As a white blood cell, your job is to fight off these invaders bent on unleashing havoc and destruction to sinuses, stomaches, intestines-- any weak point in the body! Players will learn in stages of increasingly difficult attackers-- where they come from, how they invade, and their strengths and weakness-- before launching out to collect needed supplies, building squadrons and armies, and attacking whatever enemy dares to test the mettle of the body!

Instructional Objective
Learners will be exposed to core components of the body’s immune system and how they function individually, in concert with other systems within the body, and in conjunction with treatments and medications. Each stage would introduce a type of pathogen or parasite, detailing how it invades the body, its behavior within the body, and means of treatment. As white blood cells, players would learn their role in defeating the infection and how other means, both within the immune system and external treatments, also come into play in ridding the body of the invaders.

This game supports the curriculum standards in some middle school science studies but is fully entrenched in high school science frameworks as follows:

//California 7th Grade Science Content Standards// Structure and Function in Living Systems 5. The anatomy and physiology of plants and animals illustrate the complementary nature of structure and function. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know plants and animals have levels of organization for structure and function, including cells, tissues, organs, organ systems, and the whole organism. b. Students know organ systems function because of the contributions of individual organs, tissues, and cells. The failure of any part can affect the entire system.

//California 9th- 12th Grade Science Content Standards// Structure and Function in Living Systems 10. Organisms have a variety of mechanisms to combat disease. As a basis for under-standing the human immune response: a. Students know the role of the skin in providing nonspecific defenses against infection. b. Students know the role of antibodies in the body’s response to infection. c. Students know how vaccination protects an individual from infectious diseases. d. Students know there are important differences between bacteria and viruses with respect to their requirements for growth and replication, the body’s primary defenses against bacterial and viral infections, and effective treatments of these infections. e. Students know why an individual with a compromised immune system (for example, a person with AIDS) may be unable to fight off and survive infections by microorganisms that are usually benign. f.* Students know the roles of phagocytes, B-lymphocytes, and T lymphocytes in the immune system.

Learners
The learners for this game will be students at the junior high and high school level. Students are first exposed to the topic in their Life Science class in 7th grade then again in Biology once they reach high school. Previous knowledge on the topic will not be mandatory because they will be educated as the game progresses. Students must be able to read and follow instructions given to them on a computer monitor, incorporating the information they receive into actions in the game.

Context of Use
Invasion of the Body Hatchers (IBH) is an Internet-based game that can be used in just about any setting-- educational or recreational. Teachers may want to use the game to supplement lessons taught in class, or the students might want to play the game at home to achieve mastery. If an administration likes the idea, then the game might be presented as training. No matter what the game is used for, IBH is a game that could be played with no prior instruction and can be played over and over again. IBH is a game that could be played as a single player game but is geared towards being a multi-player game. Because it is an Internet-based game, the player could play with his or her next door neighbor-- or with players all over the world. After playing IBH for several hours, the players will learn all they would like to know about white blood cells and how to fight off viruses, pathogens, and parasites.

Scope
The game will be as big as a human body as it takes place in one! However, as a player, YOU ARE MICROSCOPIC, so the game arena seems huge. However, access to different systems and areas of the body will be introduced level by level, as game play progresses. White blood cells start each level in a situation room where they are educated about the foe they will soon be facing-- its location, weaknesses, and additional items necessary (medicines, etc.) to attack and defeat the invader. The first level would be in the respiratory system, where players may face the common cold virus, strep throat, or other ailments of this area. As levels increase, other areas, such as the stomach and intestines, would be accessible, and increasingly difficult and hardy foes present themselves in opposition to the white blood cells.

Game play, per level, could take up to an hour, depending on stages in the level; for instance, in the respiratory system there would be three stages where white blood cells must learn about and defeat three different pathogens. Completing all four levels could take upwards of four hours, but the game could be saved and picked up whenever desired.

Object of the Game
The object of the game is to travel through the inside of the body as a white blood cell, where your goal is to destroy any foreign invaders that can cause harm to the immune system and host body. Each level gets progressively harder as new elements are introduced when a level is won, and each level is completed when all of the malevolent entities have been zapped by the white blood cell. This game can be played as an individual or with a number of other players. The winner of the game is the cell that survives the longest without losing their lives and who has the most points, thereby ensuring the survival of the host.

Competing Products
[|Operation]: The classic human anatomy game where you try to remove a part of the body without hitting the tweezer and causing the nose to light up.

[|Blood Typing]: This is a game where you have patients that have been a bad accident and are in need of a blood transfusion. You have to test the patients blood and determine what blood type the patient has and give the proper blood to the patient.

[|Meta4orce: In the Blood] : In the second stage of this game, you are a nanoprobe, and you are trying to collect information in a character's blood to determine how to diagnose what is wrong. The player has to collect this information while trying to get away from the white blood cells because they consider the player a foreign object.

These games are similar to IBH because they involve human anatomy and blood. [|Meta4orce: In the Blood] is similar to IBH in terms of the game's environment, but IBH is a game where the player/s are white blood cells attacking the bad organisms that are causing the body to get sick. IBH is also an educational game where prior to each level played, there is a mini-lesson that will educate and train the player/s about the upcoming bad organism they are about to encounter.

Design Details
//Universal Elements// The game will be semi-realistic. As the environment is at a microscopic level and certain viruses are photographed with only electron microscopes, colors, size, and shape may all be exaggerated, even cartoonish. White blood cells would be larger than viruses yet significantly smaller than parasitic worms, yet for game play, some size variation would be needed to facilitate battles in game play. Also, sounds would need to be synthesized as-- as far as we know-- there is little noise produced within the body aside from the heart pumping and digestive processes. While these would be interesting and realistic white noise for the backdrop of the game, completely fabricated battle sounds would enhance the flow of the game.

//Specific Elements//

I//nvasion of the Body Hatchers// is a combination adventure/arcade/simulation/maze game. Players start in a lobby and enter into the game as a group of white blood cells. The game consists of three stages of battle against various pathogens in the body, with each stage following the same pattern of play: education, medicine/antibody retrieval, and enemy engagement.

Role of the learner: The learner plays a white blood cell receives the assignment of allying with other white blood cells in defending a body against attack. The player receives instruction on certain pathogens, including how the body is infiltrated, how the pathogen reproduces, medications necessary to treat the malady, and its weakness. The white blood cell must travel to part of the body to retrieve a medicine/treatment, then search for the infection. Players will group with other players, forming squadrons that will attack invaders in an arcade-style fashion based on early instruction of the pathogen's weakness.

The goal of the learner is to join with other white blood cells to rid the body of various invaders threatening the health of the host while maintaining. For each level, players would first enter the situation room:


 * Situation Room**

In the situation room, players would learn of their role as a white blood cell within the body and be introduced to the level's pathogen: the common cold for level one, influenza for level two, and pinworms for level three. Background information on the invader's life cycle, means of infection, and how the body defends itself would be explained with the affected area being highlighted on an illustration of the body. Players would also be informed of medical treatments for the infection and shown the means of entry for the medication as part of the game is to first navigate to this point to pick up "ammunition" to attack the invaders. After instruction, players would be released from the situation room into the bloodstream.


 * Vein Travel**

Upon being released from the situation room, players enter into a maze of veins, shown on a body map next to the region of action. The area containing the player would be enlarged (as shown) so that a detailed enlargement of the immediate area would augment navigation. The region of action itself shows the vein currently being traversed and other players. The first goal is to reach the area of insertion for needed medication or antibodies to pick up ammunition to wage war against the invaders. At the body of the screen are two indicators: one for the health of the individual white blood cell controlled by the player and the other for ammunition, whether it is medicine or antibodies.


 * Medicine Pick-Up**

Upon arrival at the point of insertion for medicine or treatment, white blood cells will need to fill up their ammunition reserve by collecting graphic representations of whatever treatment is necessary; while this is not a realistic function of white blood cells-- which will be clearly communicated in the game-- it does allow for education about treating various infections to be included in the situation room and demonstrates how treatments work in conjunction with the body's natural defenses. It is at this point that each level diverges as a new invader is the target as the game progresses. After stocking up on ammunition, the white blood cells will travel to various parts of the body-- and various body systems (blood, respiratory, digestive)-- to attack the invader. In order to leave this area, a certain, pre-determined number of white blood cells will need to congregate so that a sufficient number is together to have the strength to defeat the pathogen on each level. Individual cells may need to return to this area to restock if a white blood cell uses up all of its ammunition, and this is where a cell would regenerate if it perishes in battle. For each of the three following levels, a different invader is the target. White blood cells will have to group up and attack invaders to flush the infection from the body's system. Based on the instruction in the situation room, each invader will have weaknesses that can be exploited based on how the white blood cells attack and work together. The following screen shots show a sample of the "battle arena" for each level, complete with white blood cells present and the pathogens/parasites as well.


 * Level 1: Common Cold Attack**


 * Level 2: Influenza Attack**


 * Level 3: Pinworm Attack**

//Technical Elements// The game development software that will be used to create this game will be [|gamestudio]. Gamestudio is an all-in-the-box game development system that will allow us to create commercial quality 3D or 2D games and graphics. Since Gamestudio includes a sound engine that creates static and dynamic sound sources with Doppler effects, the sound will be be created there and saved in either WAV, OGG, MID, MP3, WMA form. The main platform for the initial creation of the game will be for online use. Since we would like for the game to be accessed anywhere, anytime, all files will be stored online via a server. With the Network and Game Engine included in Gamestudio, we have the ability to use the Save / Load system for resuming games at arbitrary positions.

Motivational Issues
//Invasion of the Body Hatchers// engages players at a variety of levels. The title alone entices players to explore a situation where an invasion is taking place within their bodies. In designing an internet game like //IBH//, it was apparent that it be fun, realistic, and challenging. Not only do these three key elements need to be a consistent theme, but //IBH// must answer the question, "Why play?"

//Invasion of the Body Hatchers// challenges players to enter a simulated world-- their bodies-- and defeat a virus. The concept alone is challenging because the human body is an environment not easily understood. Also, attempting to face the conditions inside the body as well as comprehend how they function can be mind-boggling. So, any player that engages in //IBH// will surely be faced with challenges from the beginning. Once game play has started, the challenges just continue to arise throughout the situation rooms and passages they are traveling. The ultimate challenge, defeating a virus and restoring the human body to a state where it is healthy, is by far a motivational aspect that will invite players to continue to play again and again.
 * Play //IBH// for the Challenge**

While playing //Invasion of the Body Hatchers//, players will not only navigate through the game for a challenge, but they will attain knowledge along the way. Even though players are focused on defeating the challenge presented to them in the situation rooms, they will also be provided with vocabulary and valuable information that they might not have otherwise. In order for //IBH// to be successful, players are given this information throughout the game. When finished playing //IBH//, players can take what they have been provided with and apply it to their everyday lives. As they overcome their challenges in //IBH//, learning is taking place, whether the player realizes it or not.
 * Play //IBH// to Learn**

A huge motivational factor that people play games is for the socializing. //Invasion of the Body Hatchers// provides a platform for players to unite with other white blood cells and work in tandem to defeat invaders of the human body. This can be highly motivating because if players get associated with each other and develop gaming relationships while playing //IBH//, they are going to be motivated to meet up again with each other in a situation room to play the game together.
 * Play //IBH// to Socialize**

When playing games, whether it be a board game or an Internet game, people want to explore an arena, concept, challenge, and world that is not within their everyday experience. //IBH// allows players to explore the human body, and it also serves as an experimental exploration of immune system invaders that make us sick. //IBH// draws players into a fantasy, enlarged world of a human body. It also allows them to fantasize themselves a microscopic white blood cells. The role that players take on within //IBH// presents players with an escape from real life and lets them fantasize within a world that they would never be able to enter in real life.
 * Play //IBH// to Explore and Fantasize**

//Invasion of the Body Hatchers// provides the emotional experiences of excitement and accomplishment. The two feelings can evoke a player's sense of anxiety while playing the game, especially upon arriving in the situation room. They are not aware of what challenge they will get until they spend some time in the situation room, so not knowing what you are going to face can raise levels of anxiety. Accomplishing a victory over an invader is an emotional roller coaster for players. In order to get to this emotional state, players have to transform their thinking and make several adaptations in order to be successful at //IBH//. After this is done, it can take hours of play to defeat the invader and ,when finally doing so, accomplishment is achieved.
 * Play //IBH// for the Emotional Experience**

Design Process
//Invasion of the Body Hatchers// started as a small idea about a game to help teach the players about the immune system. The idea began as a one level game of white blood cells attacking infections in the bloodstream, and eventually evolved into an exciting, action-packed game that actually teaches the learner about the immune system. In the beginning, the game was supposed to resemble a Pac-Man stlye game where the player is a white blood cell and moves aroound veins and arteries chomping away at the infections it encounters. The game needed a way to inform the students as to what types of infections and bacteria the white blood cells were fighting, so the Situation Room was created. The Situaution Room is where the player is informed of his/her mission. The player will learn how the body was contaminated with the infection or bacteria and learn how to dispose of them and prevent them from coming back. For example, the player may encounter the Norovirus that causes stomach flu. The player will learn that this virus is passed from person-to-person easily and that in order to prevent the body from contamination of the Norovirus one must wash his or her hands regularly and thoroughly. The treatment for the Norovirus is to drink a lot of fluids, take Tylenol for fever, and eat crackers. Once the player is briefed on the information, it is time to enter the blood stream and attack, but rather than being a Pac Man-type game, the player is actually in the blood stream collecting the items needed to fight off the infection and cure the body as the immune system does in real life. We also decided to make the game a multi-level game where the player deals with one illness per level and, as he/she progresses through the game, the levels get more difficult in treatment and battle.

Once we decided on the concept of the game, we began working on gathering factual information on the immune system and different types of illnesses that the body encounters. We found specific bacteria, viruses, infections, and any other illness on the web sites listed below in order to make the game as realistic as possible.

We also searched for similar types of games and found //Operation//, //Blood Typing//, and //Meta4orce: In the Blood//, as described in the "Competing Products" portion of this document. These products all have to do with blood or human anatomy. None of them have the exact idea as //Invasion of the Body Hatchers//, but //Meta4orce// may resemble some parts of the battles in //IBH'//s final product. //Invasion of the Body Hatchers// actually teaches the player about the body.

In order to get feedback, we asked friends, family, and students what they thought about the idea of //Invasion of the Body Hatchers//. Most of the friends and family liked the idea, and students loved the idea. It seemed like the older the person, the more they did not like the idea. The students loved the idea because the game reminded them of some of the games they play on their personal game stations.

//Invasion of the Body Hatchers// started as a single player game where the player went around munching on illnesses and became a multi-player and multi-level game that takes the players on a journey through certain systems within the human body, attacking illness and learning how to prevent the spread of these illnesses. As the creators, we wanted a game that would be fun and exciting for the players, but also teach how the immune system works. We searched for accurate information on these illnesses and put them into the game. Once we found this information, we found graphics that would most realistically represent the white blood cells and the illnesses. Once the ideas and information was put together, we designed the game to be played via the Internet so that the players could play with other players around the world. We put all of this information together and it became the //Invasion of the Body Hatchers//.

This experience has left us with the lesson that in order to create an educational game it needs to be fun, realistic, and challenging.